babystepsfandomcom-20200215-history
Chapter 275
Love (好き Suki) is the 275th chapter of manga, Baby Steps. Characters in Order of Appearance *Eiichiro Maruo *Hisashi Kanda *Marcia O'Brien *Alex O'Brien *Atsushi Taira *Natsu Takasaki *Pete Gonzales *Kevin Morland Summary After playing the beach tennis tag team, Eiichiro and Natsu have a video chat. Just as Natsu is about to play in an international tournament, Eiichiro, too, is about to participate for Bradenton Open. Synopsis Kanda and Ei-chan start getting their act together as a team. Ei-chan suffers another direct hit on the face. He thinks even though he'd prepared quickly, the ball had been too fast, so he hadn't been able to deal with it. Marcia points out it's because he moved away that he got hit. Sawa explains that because the net is high and they mustn't let the ball bounce, Ei-chan has to play the ball from a high position as much as possible, while shifting the body weight forward—at the same time as volleying. Basically, move forward. Both Ei-chan and Kanda take in the explanation; Kanda thinks the main point is to maintain a high offensive awareness and compares it to Kabai spirit. The game continues with Kanda serving. Sawa explains that the basic strategy in beach tennis is to make the opponent receive the ball in a low position and float (lob?) the ball, then hit that from above. Kanda gets fired up because the current situation doesn't earn him cool points. After Kanda makes a point, Ei-chan resolves to do the same. Kanda and he collide and both of them insist it's their ball. (Atsushi laughs, saying the two have the worst compatibility.) Marcia's team wins. Kanda says though it's "beach," two national top-level guys were defeated by a younger girl. Sawa disagrees, saying the two of them picked it up quickly; in the second half he got a bit serious. Ei-chan counters that it's more grueling than he'd thought, but adds that it was fun. Marcia says because she won, she'll get Ei-chan to listen to one thing she says. Ei-chan protests in Japanese, adding that he has a bad feeling... (Kanda mutters in Japanese that she can make him promise something improper.) Marcia orders them to speak in English, but Ei-chan passes it off as "it's nothing." So Marcia says that every Saturday Ei-chan's to come to the beach to be her practice partner. Ei-chan responds in Japanese that he'd be happy to, then continues in English with "sure, please." Then Ei-chan asks Marcia to teach him more about beach tennis since it's for tennis practice. Marcia kind of gets overwhelmed by his enthusiasm and plays cool with "well, it can't be helped." (Kanda wonders at "this feeling.") Atsushi introduces himself to Sawa as a coach at IMG. After getting to watch just now, he's gotten interested and wants to talk a bit with Sawa. Sawa invites Atsushi to experience beach tennis for himself. That night, Ei-chan has a video chat with Nat-chan. She says it sounds really interesting and notes that there are courts even in Japan. Then she suggests that when Ei-chan comes back, they play it together. (Teenage hormones raises its head as Ei-chan imagines Nat-chain in a bikini playing beach tennis. Since it's a video call, Nat-chan must have seen his expression.) Ei-chan apologizes then asks about Nat-chan's current plans. She tells him she'll be playing in Nagoya a month from now; it's become participation in an international tournament. She's going to aim for racking up points for world ranking in a pro match. Ei-chan says it's great, because she's the winner of the All-Japan Juniors she can take part. Nat-chan agrees, adding that she's joining as a wild card. She says among international tournaments, it's a small tournament because the total prize is $10,000, but it feels like she's finally at the starting line. Ei-chan wishes he could see that match. Nat-chan notes how far away he is, that even though it's morning at her end, it's night at his. She adds that it's kind of lonely but such instances might increase. Ei-chan agrees, but points out that being able to see her face while talking is better than what they had before (probably referring to the first time he went to Florida); then he gets second thoughts, because being able to see her makes him want to meet with her too much. Nat-chan says it's the same for her; then she tells him she really likes him, which flusters Ei-chan. Nat-chan starts to end the call, reminding him they'll talk again tomorrow. Ei-chan confirms this. After he ends the call, he thinks he wants to go home already. But if he goes home as he is now, he'll go home without accomplishing anything. He has to work hard and not lose to Nat-chan in the effort he puts out. Two days later, on Monday, Kevin tells everyone to listen up. Because everyone there (in the group) will be entering the Bradenton Open one month from now, as planned, they're to give it their all with the intention of winning. Ei-chan asks Atsushi what the Bradenton Open is, whether it's a tournament. Atsushi says it is, explaining that it's a local tournament with a total prize of $10,000. He adds that because IMG is a sponsor of the tournament, Ei-chan also ought to enter as a wild card. Since players from around the world, not just America, will be taking part, Atsushi thinks it will be a good experience for him. Ei-chan thinks "international players in a $10,000-dollar tournament...that's a tournament on the same level as the one Nat-chan will be taking part in...isn't that an international tournament where pros take part?" Then Atsushi suggests they make it a chance for Ei-chan to get world ranking. Navigation Category:Volume 29 Category:Training at IMG Academy Arc